ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs Holds Annual Conference of Relief Commissioners and Secretaries of Departments of Disaster Management of States/Union Territories to Review Preparedness for Handling Natural Disastsers That may arise During South-West Monsoon 2021
The Ministry of Home Affairs , today organized the Annual Conference of Relief Commissioners and Secretaries of the Departments of Disaster Management of States and Union Territories through Video Conference. The Conference was convenedprimarily to review the status of preparedness for dealing with natural disasters that may arise during the South-West Monsoon 2021.
The Conference was presided over by theUnion Home Secretary. In his inaugural address, the Union Home Secretary stressed on the need for building up capacities and response reflexes to ensure 24x7 preparedness throughout the year. He also advised all authorities to make extra efforts to secure all health facilities, oxygen generation plants from heavy rains/floods during the South-West Monsoon or any other impending disaster. The Union Home Secretary asked all concerned officials of the Central and the State Governments to be better prepared, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, to minimize losses due to natural disasters, such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes etc.
The Union Home Secretaryalso released the Version 4.0 of the National Database for Emergency Management , developed by the National Remote Sensing Centre , which is very helpful in integration of real time alerts and warning from forecasting agencies and dissemination of this to Disaster Management Authorities upto district level for disaster risk reduction in the country.
The IMD made a presentation on forecasting, warning and dissemination mechanism, response and preparedness measures and their future plans for enhancing capability in the field of disaster management.
Representatives of States and Union Territories, Central Ministries, Central Armed Police Forces, India Meteorological Department , Central Water Commission , Snow & Avalanche Study Establishment , NRSC, , GSI and other Scientific Organisations, along with Armed Forces and National Disaster Response Force participated in the Conference. Issues connected with disaster preparedness, early warning systems, flood and river/ reservoir management, disaster management on-site and off-site plans of the States and Union Territories were discussed.
Ministry of Finance
The Regional Unit, Rohtak of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence  arrests one person who was found involved in issuing fake invoices from various firms without actual movement of goods having taxable value of Rs. 146.62 crore and fraudulently passing ITC amounting to Rs. 16.54 crore
The Directorate General of GST Intelligence , Regional Unit, Rohtak  has arrested one person named Shri Sunny Singhal of Panipat who was found involved in issuing fake invoices from various firms without actual movement of goods having taxable value of Rs. 146.62 Crores and fraudulently passing ITC amounting to Rs. 16.54 Crores. He passed on such fraudulent ITC to some of the buyers who availed of the same to discharge their GST liability against their outward supplies with an ulterior motive to defraud the Government exchequer. During the course of investigation, Shri Singhal has admitted that these firms were opened by him in the name of different persons as Proprietorship firms. He further admitted that he used to issue bills without movement of goods and for this he used to earn commission and some of the entries in the diaries/records resumed were of such commission.
Thus, Shri Sunny Singhal has committed offences under the provisions of Section 132 of the Central Goods & Services Tax Act , 2017, which are cognizable and non-bailable offences under Section 132 of the CGST Act, 2017, being punishable under Section 132 of the CGST Act, 2017. Consequently, Shri Sunny Singhal was arrested on 25.06.2019 under Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017 and produced in Rohtak Court on 26.6.2019. The Court has sent him to judicial custody till 9.7.2019. During the investigations conducted so far into the fake billing racket in this case, DGGI, Regional Unit, Rohtak has recovered an amount of Rs. 3.75 Crore from the GST evaded. Further investigations in the matter are in the progress.
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Australia-India-Japan Trade Ministers’ Joint Statement on Launch of Supply Chain Resilience initiative
The Trade Ministers of India,Japan and Australia formally launched the Supply Chain Resilience initiative in a Trilateral Ministerial Meeting held virtually on 27.04.2021. The following is the text of the Joint statement adopted in the Meeting:
- Mr. Dan Tehan, Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Piyush Goyal, India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry, and Mr. Kajiyama Hiroshi, Japan’s Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry held a Ministerial videoconference on 27 April 2021.
- The Ministers acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic was having an unprecedented impact in terms of lives lost, livelihoods and economies affected, and that the pandemic had revealed supply chain vulnerabilities globally and in the region. The Ministers also noted that some supply chains have been left vulnerable due to a range of factors.
- Based on the high level consultations among Australia, India and Japan since September last year, the Ministers noted the importance of risk management and continuity plans in order to avoid supply chain disruptions and affirmed their commitment to strengthen resilient supply chains. Possible policy measures may include:  supporting the enhanced utilization of digital technology; and  supporting trade and investment diversification.
- The Ministers hereby launch the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative . The Ministers instructed their officials to implement the following as initial projects of SCRI and further develop the Initiative:  sharing of best practices on supply chain resilience; and  holding investment promotion events and buyer-seller matching events to provide opportunities for stakeholders to explore the possibility of diversification of their supply chains.
- The Ministers decided to convene at least once a year to provide guidance to the implementation of the SCRI as well as to consult on how to develop the Initiative. The Ministers noted the important role of business and academia for the Initiative. The Ministers directed their officials to meet as often as required to take the Initiative forward. The SCRI aims to create a virtuous cycle of enhancing supply chain resilience with a view to eventually attaining strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth in the region. The Ministers consented that expansion of the SCRI may be considered based on consensus, if needed, in due course.
To quickly take forward the initiative, the Ministers explored convening the Trilateral Ministerial Meeting, once in four months.
Ministry of Earth Sciences
Annular Eclipse of the Sun on 26th December
An annular eclipse of the Sun will occur on December 26, 2019 . From India annular phase will be visible in the morning after sunrise from some places within a narrow corridor of southern part of the country  and it will be seen as partial solar eclipse from the rest part of the country. The narrow corridor of annular phase of the eclipse will pass through the southern part of the country through certain places like Cannanore, Coimbatore, Kozhikode, Madurai, Mangalore, Ooty, Tiruchirappalli etc. In India, the obscuration of the Sun by the Moon at the time of greatest phase of the annular eclipse will be nearly 93%. As one moves towards the north and south of the country from the annular path, the duration of the partial eclipse decreases. Obscuration of the Sun by the Moon at the time of greatest phase of partial eclipse will be around 90 percent in Bangalore, 85 percent in Chennai, 79 percent in Mumbai, 45 percent in Kolkata, 45 percent in Delhi, 42 percent in Patna, 33 percent in Guwahati, 70 percent in Port Blair, 35 percent in Silchar etc.
Considering the Earth as a whole the partial phase of the eclipse will begin at 8 h 00 m IST. The annular phase will begin at 9 h 06 m IST. The annular phase will end at 12 h 29 m IST. The partial phase will end at 13h 36 m IST.
The annular eclipse of the Sun is visible within a narrow corridor in the northern Hemisphere near to equator. The annular path passes through Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, UAE, India, northern part of Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, and Borneo. The Moon's penumbral shadow produces a partial eclipse, visible in the region covering Middle East, North Eastern Africa, Asia except North and Eastern Russia, North and Western Australia, Solomon Island.
The next solar eclipse will be visible from India on June 21, 2020. It will be an annular solar eclipse. A narrow path of annularity will pass through northern part of India. From the rest part of the country it will be seen as partial solar eclipse.
A solar eclipse occurs on a new moon day when the Moon comes in between the Earth and the Sun and when all the three objects are aligned. An annular solar eclipse will occur when the angular diameter of the Moon falls short of that of the Sun so that it cannot cover up the latter completely. As a result a ring of the Sun’s disk remains visible around the Moon.
Eclipsed Sun should not be viewed with the naked eye, even for a very short time. It will cause permanent damage of the eyes leading to blindness even when the moon covers most portion of the Sun. Safe technique to observe the solar eclipse is either by using proper filter like aluminized Mylar, black polymer, welding glass of shade number 14 or by making projection of Sun’s image on a white board by telescope.
Click here for the table relating to local circumstances of some places in India for ready reference.
Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
National Farmers Welfare Program Implementation Committee office inaugurated by Union Agriculture Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar
Central Government is working with new technology to make farmers self-reliant, says Shri Tomar
Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the office of National Farmers Welfare Program Implementation Committee. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Tomar said that the National Farmers Welfare Program Implementation Committee would act as a project monitoring unit for the implementation of PM-Kisan Yojana, Kisan Maandhan Yojana, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund and other schemes of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Shri Tomar said that the Central Government has implemented the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi  scheme to make farmers self-reliant and to provide direct income support for agricultural expenditure. Under this scheme, an amount of Rs 1.37 lakh crore has been transferred to the accounts of more than 11 crore farmer families so far. The Minister said that the Central Government along with the experts, IT companies of the country is working with new technology to make the farmers self-reliant. Various technological solutions are being developed through Aadhar integration with UIDAI, launch of mobile app and integration with CSCs, KCC, integration with land records database maintained by States/UTs.
The Ministers of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welafare Shri Kailash Chaudhary and Ms. Shobha Karandlaje, Secretary Shri Sanjay Agarwal, CEO of PM-Kisan Scheme Shri Vivek Agarwal along with senior officers and representatives of various agencies were present on the occasion.
PIB Headquarters
PIB’S BULLETIN ON COVID-19
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- 212.75 cr Total Vaccine doses  have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive
- 22,40,162 doses administered in last 24 hours
- India's Active caseload currently stands at 59,210
- Active cases stand at 0.13%
- Recovery Rate currently at 98.68%
- 9,685 recoveries in the last 24 hours increases Total Recoveries to
- 4,38,55,365
- 6,168 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours
- Daily positivity rate 
- Weekly Positivity Rate 
- 88.64 cr Total Tests conducted so far; 3,18,642 tests conducted in the last 24 hours
#Unite2FightCorona #IndiaFightsCorona
Press Information Bureau
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
Government of India
Ministry of Mines
Minister Raosaheb Patil Danve Leads Indian Delegation at Mining Indaba International Conclave
Mining Indaba is one of the most popular Mining Conclaves in the world which is held annually at Cape Town, South Africa. This year Government of India delegation participated in this Conclave under the leadership of Shri Raosaheb Patil Danve, Minster of State for Mines, Coal & Railways. Shri Brijendra Pratap Singh, Minister of Mining & Labour Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh also participated in the Conference. The delegation included officials from Ministries of Mines, Coal, Steel and External Aﬀairs and organizations/PSUs like GSI, AMD, HCL, NALCO, NMDC, CIL, SAIL, MOIL, MECL, NTPC, OMC.
An attractive Indian pavilion was installed at the Conference venue showcasing the strength of Indian Mining & Mineral Sector. With the theme “Investment opportunities in India”, the pavilion was inaugurated by the Minster of State for Mines, Coal & Railways and Minister of Mining & Labour department, Government of Madhya Pradesh on 6th February, 2023. The design and its content were highly appreciated by the international delegates. On this occasion, a brochure of Ministry of Mines highlighting the initiatives and reforms undertaken by the Government and a booklet on upcoming actionable mineral blocks of various State governments was also distributed.
Bilateral ministerial level meetings with Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Congo and Zambia took place on the sidelines of the Conference. Several interactions have taken place among the Indian delegates and delegates from various countries and organizations. The High Commissioner of India in South Africa and Consulate General of India at Cape Town have taken part in the program and extended support for the successful participation of Government of India in Cape Town. Minister Shri Danve addressed the international audience on 8th Feb highlighting the initiatives of the Government in the mining and mineral sector and urged them to investment in India.
President's Secretariat
General Duty Medical Officers of the 2nd foundation course conducted by the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare call on the President
General Duty Medical Officers  of the 2nd Foundation Course, conducted by the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, called on the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, today  at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Addressing the medical officers, the President said that the disease burden in our country is undergoing change. We have to tackle Communicable diseases such as TB, Malaria and Dengue and at the same time deal with the rising incidence of Non-Communicable diseases. To address these shifting health priorities, the Government has after more than a decade come up with a revised National Health Policy. It outlines new and innovative ways to provide affordable healthcare for all.
The President said that the goal of universal health coverage is a priority for our Government. The implementation of the National Health Mission critically depends on commitment of the medical fraternity. This needs effective governance at the community, village and district levels. He stated that while health may be a core concern for them, they have an equally important role to play in the socio-economic progress of the country. Several key Government initiatives such as Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao and Swachh Bharat need their support and service.
The President advised doctors to actively listen to their patients and their concerns, as simply listening to the patients for a couple of minutes can bring psychological benefits to them and aid in the recovery process.
Prime Minister's Office
PM conveys best wishes upon release of trailer of Gandhada Gudi
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has conveyed his best wishes upon the release of trailer of Gandhada Gudi, a project close to Late Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar which is a tribute to Karnataka's natural beauty and environmental conservation. The Prime Minister remarked that late Puneeth Rajkumar lives in the hearts of millions around the world.
Quoting a tweet by Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar, w/o late Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar, the Prime Minister tweeted;
“Appu lives in the hearts of millions around the world. He was brilliance personified, full of energy and blessed with unparalleled talent. Gandhada Gudi is a tribute to Mother Nature, Karnataka's natural beauty and environmental conservation. My best wishes for this endeavour.”
PIB Headquarters
RNI Registration: Applications with inadequate documents will be rejected
Deputy Press Registrar of Registrar of Newspapers for India  informed that the applications for both fresh and revised registration with inadequate documents will no longer be accepted by RNI. Such applications received directly at RNI headquarters from 11th December 2017 and received through posts from 15th December 2017 will be either rejected at the Dak counter or send back to the applicant through posts. Publishers sending application by post are requested to enclose a self-addressed/ stamped envelope along with their application.
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Prime Minister's Office
PM’s message on World Environment Day
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in his message on World Environment Day has said that this day is the right time to reaffirm our commitment to protecting our environment and nurturing a better planet. The Prime Minister in his message has saluted the will and determination of all those individuals and organisations working towards protecting the environment.
Following is the text of Prime Minister’s message on World Environment Day:-
“World Environment Day is the right time to reaffirm our commitment to protecting our environment and nurturing a better planet.
We salute the will and determination of all those individuals and organisations working towards protecting the environment.
This year’s theme of ‘Connecting People to Nature’ is nothing but getting connected with ourselves.”
Ministry of Railways
Inspection and Repair of Rail Bridges
There is a well established system of inspection of bridges on Indian Railways. All the bridges are inspected twice a year, one before the onset of monsoon and one detailed inspection after the monsoon. In addition, certain bridges are also inspected more frequently depending upon their condition. Repair / strengthening / rehabilitation / rebuilding of railway bridges is a continuous process and is undertaken whenever so warranted by their physical condition as ascertained during these inspections and not on the basis of age. If the corrective / remedial measures are expected to take a long duration due to the complexity of the site situation, etc., suitable safety measures like imposing speed restrictions and keeping such bridge under close watch are taken till the bridge is repaired / strengthened / rehabilitated / rebuilt. During last five year , a total of 3675 bridges have been repaired / strengthened / rehabilitated / rebuilt on Indian Railways. As on 01.04.2017, a total of 3017 railway bridges are sanctioned for repaired / strengthened / rehabilitated / rebuilt.
This information was given by the Minister of State of Railways Shri Rajen Gohain in
a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Science & Technology
Swarnajayanti Fellow may provide new genetic treatment for thalassemia, duchenne muscular dystrophy, haemophilia
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a severe type of muscle weakness that usually begins at an early age and worsens quickly, may soon have a new strategy of treatment through genetic regulation.
There is no known cure for duchenne muscular dystrophy. Treatments usually aim to control symptoms to improve quality of life.
Sandeep Eswarappa, Assistant Professor Indian Institute of Science , Bengaluru one of the 21 recipients of this year’s Swarnajayanti Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology , Government of India, proposes to suppress the disease-causing premature stop codon or the genetic process that initiates these diseases. He is trying to bring about the suppression through translational read through a gene regulatory principle found in humans, yeasts, bacteria and drosophila which takes place with the variation of the genetic code.
Prof. Sandeep’s group has been developing strategies to induce translational read through across genetic diseases caused by non-sense mutations -- a change in DNA that causes a protein to terminate or end its translation earlier than expected. They were successful in achieving this in vitro in case of thalassemia and are working on other disease models. This research work has been published in the scientific journal ‘Biochemistry’ recently. With the Swarna Jayanti fellowship, they will extend it to Duchenne muscular dystrophy. If successful, this project may lead to novel therapeutics for the treatment of genetic diseases like thalassemia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, haemophilia.
In case of any protein formation genetic information present in the genome is first transcribed into an mRNA, which in turn is translated into a protein. Protein synthesis or translation is executed by macromolecular machinery called ribosomes. Ribosomes start this process at a specific location on an mRNA called ‘start codon’ and terminate at a stop signal called ‘stop codon’. In case of diseases with nonsense mutations, such mutations result in premature stop signal in mRNA often resulting in non-functional truncated protein
Prof. Sandeep Eswarappa’s laboratory at IISc has shown that in certain mRNAs, under certain conditions, translating ribosomes misread the stop signal and continue till they encounter another stop signal. In this translational read through process, a longer protein is synthesized with an extension. This extension might change the properties of the protein. The experiments carried out by his group have revealed that such long proteins can have different localization, stability and function.
“The knowledge we have already gained from our experiment has opened up an unexpected avenue to treat genetic diseases caused by non-sense mutations like Duchenne muscular dystrophy, haemophilia and so on,” said Prof. Sandeep.
[Publication link: DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.9b00761
For more details contact Prof. Sandeep Eswarappa .]
Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
ONGC inks MoU with Norway’s Equinor to collaborate on E&P, clean energy
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited  has signed a Memorandum of Understanding  with Equinor ASA, the Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company. The MoU was inked on 26 April 2022 in New Delhi for collaboration and partnership in areas of upstream Exploration & Production, midstream, downstream and Clean energy options, including Carbon Capture Utilization & Sequestration . Equinor is the leading operator on the Norwegian continental shelf, present in around 30 countries worldwide.
The MoU was signed during the visit of a high-level delegation of Norway to India. Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Norwegian Foreign Minister Ms Anniken Huitfeldt, ONGC CMD Dr Alka Mittal and Executive Vice President of Equinor Ms Irene Rummelhoff were present on the occasion.
As per the agreement, both ONGC and Equinor will collaborate with each other in the field of upstream oil and gas, midstream, marketing and trading, besides exploring further options in low carbon fuel, renewables, Carbon Capture Storage  as well as Carbon Capture Utilization and Sequestration  opportunities in India.
The MoU is valid for two years under which both companies have agreed to work together in the areas identified.
YB/RM
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